


Selling It

by Viridian5



Category: Andromeda
Genre: Cultural Differences, Eureka Maru, Gen, Harper's Dark Past, Pre-Andromeda, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-01-12
Updated: 2009-01-12
Packaged: 2017-10-02 07:12:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Viridian5/pseuds/Viridian5
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Survival has its costs. (Not slash but has slash concepts.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Selling It

**Author's Note:**

> A pre-_Andromeda_ story. Beta by Twistedchick and Grey Bard.

"You weren't splitting this many hairs while your incoming ships were getting shot to hell," Beka said.

"But you didn't have to face any organic people to stop it. You just reprogrammed an AI," the Drift's smug-faced representative answered.

"That wasn't easy!" Harper exploded out of his chair. "It was shooting at us the whole time. Captain Valentine's ship got damaged in the process. So what if it wasn't an organic doing the shooting! You try reprogramming and psychoanalyzing a crazy AI."

Beka motioned him to sit and quiet down with a small, downward hand wave. She appreciated his sentiments and enthusiasm in defending their honor, though. To his credit, he did sit down. Harper didn't always follow commands, even in public.

"We're giving you a computer technician's fee in thanks for reprogramming that satellite. I suggest you take it instead of getting nothing. Ask our admin for it on your way out," the rep said as he walked out. The door shut very decisively behind him.

"I can't believe this shit. Damn it," Beka muttered, but she was sure to check in with the admin on their way out. Fortunately, the rep had at least kept his word on the admin putting together a deposit for the technician's fee. Harper did a small, agitated bouncing up and down next to Beka while she leaned on the counter waiting for the transfer receipt.

He didn't say anything while they stood at the counter, but she couldn't trust that to continue as they walked to the Maru. Once they cleared the office, she said, "Don't say anything until we're onboard."

Harper said, "I'm not--"

"No, I figure you're going to try to cheer me up, but I don't want to say anything about anything out here."

"I hear ya."

When they walked in and closed the hatch, Rev said, "From the looks on your faces, it didn't go well." It looked like he'd been waiting there for them.

"They screwed us," Beka answered.

"By the end of the meeting we had to bend over, grab our ankles, and just take it," Harper said, disgusted.

"Picturesque, but accurate." Beka sighed. "What did I do in a past life to get this crap?"

"The Divine--" Rev started.

"This is not the time," Beka said.

"Understood. What exactly happened?"

"The Drift decided that since nobody flesh and blood planned and executed the attacks on incoming ships that we shouldn't get the full bounty. They paid us like we'd just walked into a place, reprogrammed a computer program, and walked out, breezy and easy."

"Did you tell them about the damage the Maru took?"

"Yeah. They didn't care. They'd already made up their minds that they were gonna cheat us. I'll go to the boards to warn other operators about how we were screwed, but there are too many desperate people around to make any boycott stick. They have us, and they know it."

"The next payment for that loan for our _last_ repairs is coming up soon," Harper said, "and now we need more. A lot of the ship is just about duct taped together." He stroked the rail as they walked to the cockpit and didn't flinch when something behind them sparked.

They had more debts than that too. Plus... "And docking fees, restocking fees, licensing fees...." It was a good thing they hadn't  
picked up the new crewmember the Maru needed, because she couldn't afford to feed and pay another person.

"What are we gonna do for money?" Harper asked. "Do we have any big scores here to snatch? I don't think so. I think this place is a Podunk hellhole."

Beka sat in the pilot's chair. "Unfortunately, you're right. I can get on the line to see if we can carry any big shipments out, but I didn't see anything like that coming in."

"That thing with the shooter was supposed to pay off well enough to make up for it," Rev said thoughtfully.

"There's prostitution," Harper said.

"Not funny," Beka muttered.

"Not for you."

"Not funny for any of us."

"Nah. I mean prostitution for me." He looked dead serious. "Is it that bad yet?"

Beka gaped at him, because what other response could she have to that? She waited for him to do a "gotcha!" but he just continued to look serious. When her voice came out it sounded like she'd tried to speak through a big lump in her throat. "It's never gonna be that bad."

"All right. So what're we gonna do?"

"I'll have to think about it some more."

"I need to eat. Can I...?"

"Yeah, sure. Have lunch."

Once Harper left the cockpit, Beka asked Rev, "Did that really just happen?"

"Yes," Rev answered, obviously surprised as well.

"Does that mean he did it before?"

"Perhaps. There's only one person who can answer that for you."

"Yeah. I really don't want to have that conversation, though."

"I understand that, but I think you'll have to."

"Probably. Damn it."

"Please keep in mind what kind of environment Earth was."

"It's kind of hard not to. It's like he grew up in an alley in the worst part of a Drift."

"I'll trust you to do what's right."

"I hate it when you say that."

  


* * *

Beka decided to wait until after Harper had eaten lunch. He didn't look surprised to see her. Instead he smirked and said, "You just couldn't stay away, huh? I know you have a thing for muscle men, so thinking of me with big Uber studs must've burned you alive."

Wait. Nietzschean men? Beka hadn't even considered that. She didn't consider herself naïve but she'd thought he'd done it with older women. Thinking of him with some huge Nietzschean--many huge Nietzscheans--made her brain explode.

Wait, _Nietzscheans_?

"But... but... they're all about pure breeding and bloodlines."

"You didn't get that far with the...?" Harper actually looked a bit pink. "Okay, Harper's notes on the sex lives of Earth's Drago-Jackoffs. They have to have a presence on Earth to keep the territory for themselves, maintain their claims, and rub our faces in it, but they're not going to expose their fertile women to the crap they polluted the ground, air, and water with. Hell, a lot of the men sent there aren't the cream of the crop, prime breeders either. So they're damned horny but don't have many acceptable females. Since they're Ubers, they look down on infertile Nietzschean women, so they rarely take advantage of them. Not many of them do things with human women because it strikes them as a perversion of the sacred reproductive dance and shit. Nietzscheans have this guy/guy thing they're willing to do amongst themselves, but it's thick with all these social rules and power plays, like an alpha can never be on the bottom." He hadn't stopped tinkering with the ship through all of that and even looked her right in the eyes at times.

"Hold on," Beka had to say, stuck on the sudden mental image of two beefy studs getting it on, all that bare, sleek, sweaty muscle on display as they moved together. When two Nietzschean males fucked, was there any tenderness or was it all aggression and clashing arm spurs?

"Let me know when your brains climb back out of your pants."

"Brat!"

"Yeah, yeah."

"Okay. I'm ready."

"I'm glad to have you back. So. The betas might want someone to lord it over, or some of the alphas just want to get it on without having to do all that ritualized domination dance shit first. Some of them would like to have a pet but officially would be looked down for it. Slaves were too worn out to be much fun. A lot of Ubers wouldn't like to admit that they pay for it, but even they don't feel like beating the hell out of and raping a kludge every time." Harper had started to twirl his screwdriver.

"You're shitting me."

"No, I'm not. So, if you need extra money or to get into some place guarded by Ubers or if you work in one of their areas, you put out now and then. It sucks, but if it helps you survive you do it. You figure out which ones are the cruelest and most violent and try to stay away from them." The screwdriver stopped. "Maybe I'm not your type--otherwise you would have taken me up on one of my many offers--but some Ubers appreciated my ass. So to speak."

She was horrified and hoped she was keeping her face blank. She didn't think she'd even processed all of that yet.

Wait, he couldn't possibly think that-- Beka said, "I'm telling you not to whore yourself out because I'm afraid you _will_ get takers."

He smiled, blinding and sweet. "That may be the sweetest thing you ever said to me, boss."

"None of us will be shaking our asses on the street for cash. I'll find another way." Her brain was blown.

"Okay, okay. Not that Rev would get many takers."

As she left him to continue doing the small repairs he could, she thought that maybe she should go to her bunk with the privacy curtain down to think about Nietzschean guys getting it on together, which was much better than thinking about Harper prostituting himself to survive on Earth. It would probably relax her and help her make plans. Right. With the repairs they needed they wouldn't be leaving dock soon anyway.

 

### END


End file.
